Addressing the Accuracy-Cost Trade-off in Material Property Prediction Using a Teacher-Student Strategy.

Deep learning has catalyzed a transformative shift in material discovery, offering a key advantage over traditional experimental and theoretical methods by significantly reducing associated costs. Models adept at predicting properties from chemical compositions alone do not require structural information. However, this cost-efficient approach compromises model precision, particularly in Chemical Composition-based Property Prediction Models (CPMs), which are notably less accurate than Structure-based Property Prediction Models (SPMs). Addressing this challenge, our study introduces a novel Teacher-Student (TS) strategy, where a pretrained SPM serves as an instructive 'teacher' to enhance the CPM's precision. This TS strategy successfully harmonizes low-cost exploration with high accuracy, achieving a significant 47.1% reduction in relative error in scenarios involving 100 data entries. We also evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy by employing perovskites as a case study. This method represents a significant advancement in the exploration and identification of valuable materials, leveraging CPM's potential while overcoming its precision limitations.

Evaluation of Low-Cost CO2 Sensors Using Reference Instruments and Standard Gases for Indoor Use.

CO2 monitoring is important for carbon emission evaluation. Low-cost and medium-precision sensors (LCSs) have become an exploratory direction for CO2 observation under complex emission conditions in cities. Here, we used a calibration method that improved the accuracy of SenseAir K30 CO2 sensors from ±30 ppm to 0.7-4.0 ppm for a CO2-monitoring instrument named the SENSE-IAP, which has been used in several cities, such as in Beijing, Jinan, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, and Wuhan, in China since 2017. We conducted monthly to yearly synchronous observations using the SENSE-IAP along with reference instruments (Picarro) and standard gas to evaluate the performance of the LCSs for indoor use with relatively stable environments. The results show that the precision and accuracy of the SENSE-IAP compared to the standard gases were rather good in relatively stable indoor environments, with the short-term (daily scale) biases ranging from -0.9 to 0.2 ppm, the root mean square errors (RMSE) ranging from 0.7 to 1.6 ppm, the long-term (monthly scale) bias ranging from -1.6 to 0.5 ppm, and the RMSE ranging from 1.3 to 3.2 ppm. The accuracy of the synchronous observations with Picarro was in the same magnitude, with an RMSE of 2.0-3.0 ppm. According to our evaluation, standard instruments or reliable standard gases can be used as a reference to improve the accuracy of the SENSE-IAP. If calibrated daily using standard gases, the bias of the SENSE-IAP can be maintained within 1.0 ppm. If the standard gases are hard to access frequently, we recommend a calibration frequency of at least three months to maintain an accuracy within 3 ppm.

CLCF1 inhibits energy expenditure via suppressing brown fat thermogenesis.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is the main site of nonshivering thermogenesis which plays an important role in thermogenesis and energy metabolism. However, the regulatory factors that inhibit BAT activity remain largely unknown. Here, cardiotrophin-like cytokine factor 1 (CLCF1) is identified as a negative regulator of thermogenesis in BAT. Adenovirus-mediated overexpression of CLCF1 in BAT greatly impairs the thermogenic capacity of BAT and reduces the metabolic rate. Consistently, BAT-specific ablation of CLCF1 enhances the BAT function and energy expenditure under both thermoneutral and cold conditions. Mechanistically, adenylate cyclase 3 (ADCY3) is identified as a downstream target of CLCF1 to mediate its role in regulating thermogenesis. Furthermore, CLCF1 is identified to negatively regulate the PERK-ATF4 signaling axis to modulate the transcriptional activity of ADCY3, which activates the PKA substrate phosphorylation. Moreover, CLCF1 deletion in BAT protects the mice against diet-induced obesity by promoting BAT activation and further attenuating impaired glucose and lipid metabolism. Therefore, our results reveal the essential role of CLCF1 in regulating BAT thermogenesis and suggest that inhibiting CLCF1 signaling might be a potential therapeutic strategy for improving obesity-related metabolic disorders.

Left ventricular systolic dyssynchrony: a novel imaging marker for early assessment of myocardial damage in Chinese type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with normal left ventricular ejection fraction and normal myocardial perfusion.

OBJECTIVES: Myocardial damage is the important cause of heart failure (HF) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which is difficult to early diagnose, especially in T2DM with normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and normal myocardial perfusion. The goal was to evaluate myocardial damage in T2DM with normal LVEF and normal myocardial perfusion by detecting left ventricular systolic dyssynchrony (LVSD), and find out the risk factors associated with LVSD. METHODS: This study included 95 T2DM with normal LVEF, normal myocardial perfusion. 69 consecutive individuals without T2DM and CAD were enrolled as the control group with age-, sex- and BMI-matched. All participants underwent stress/rest 99mtechnetium-sestamibi (99mTc-MIBI) gated myocardial perfusion imaging (GMPI) and two-dimensional echocardiography within 1 week. Clinical data including age, gender, BMI, duration of diabetes, chronic diabetic complications, glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), fast blood glucose (FBG) and Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) were collected from medical records. Left ventricular synchrony parameters were acquired, including phase standard deviation (PSD) and phase histogram bandwidth (PBW) by rest GMPI. RESULTS: PSD and PBW in T2DM group were significantly higher than control group (P < .05). LVSD was detected in 20 (21%) T2DM patients. Compared to non-LVSD T2DM group, LVSD T2DM group had higher BMI, higher prevalence of BNP [Formula: see text] 35 pg/mL and chronic diabetic complications (P < .05). BNP [Formula: see text] 35 pg/mL had mild positive association with LVSD (r = 0.318, P = .004). In multivariate logistic regression, chronic diabetic complications and high BMI (> 23.4 kg/m2) were independent risk factors of LVSD (OR 5.64, 95% CI 1.58-20.16, P = .008; OR 6.77, 95% CI 1.59-28.89, P = .010). CONCLUSIONS: LVSD existed in T2DM patients with normal LVEF and normal myocardial perfusion. Chronic diabetic complications and high BMI (> 23.4 kg/m2) were the independent risk factors of LVSD. LVSD based on GMPI can be the novel imaging marker to early assess myocardial damage in T2DM patients.

Heterogeneous impacts of multi-energy power generation on carbon emissions: evidence from China's provincial data.

The goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality have put forward higher requirements for the low-carbon development of power supply. This paper discusses the impacts of multi-energy power generation on carbon emissions for 30 regions in China and proposes low-carbon development suggestions for the electric power industry. The research found that firstly there is a significant strong positive correlation between thermal power and carbon emissions in most regions of China, so the carbon emission reduction of power supply should still focus on thermal power. Secondly, wind power and photovoltaic power have positive effects or negative effects on carbon emissions in different regions. But combined with the analysis results in regions with the rapid development of wind power or photovoltaic power, it could be found that wind power and photovoltaic power contributed to reducing carbon emissions when they developed to a certain scale. It is proposed to speed up the construction of wind power and photovoltaic power in regions with rich wind resources or solar resources such as Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Liaoning, and Gansu. Thirdly, hydropower and nuclear power both have negative effects on carbon emissions. Considering the large demand for electricity in coastal regions where nuclear power is located, it is suggested that coastal regions should gradually promote the construction and application of nuclear power on the basis of safety.

Incremental value of myocardial wall motion and thickening to perfusion alone by gated SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging for viability assessment in patients with ischemic heart failure.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to assess the incremental value of myocardial wall motion and thickening compared with perfusion alone obtained from gated single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in diagnosing myocardial viability in patients with ischemic heart failure. METHODS: Eighty-three consecutive patients with ischemic heart failure who underwent both 99mTc-MIBI gated SPECT MPI and 18F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET) myocardial metabolic imaging were retrospectively enrolled. SPECT/PET myocardial viability was defined as the reference standard. Segmental myocardial perfusion, wall motion, and thickening were measured by an automated algorithm from gated SPECT MPI. Univariate and stepwise multivariate analysis were conducted to establish an optimal multivariate model for predicting hibernating myocardium and scar. RESULTS: Among the 1411 segments evaluated, 774 segments had normal perfusion and 637 segments had decreased perfusion. The latter were classified by 18F-FDG PET into 338 hibernating segments and 299 scarred segments. The multivariate regression analysis showed that the model that combined myocardial perfusion uptake with wall motion and thickening scores had the optimal predictive efficiency to distinguish hibernating myocardium from scar in the segments with decreased perfusion. The model had the largest C-statistic (0.753 vs 0.666, P < 0.0001), and the global chi-square was increased from 53.281 to 111.234 when compared with perfusion alone (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of myocardial wall motion and thickening in addition to conventional perfusion uptake in the segments with decreased perfusion enables better differentiation of hibernating myocardium from scar in patients with ischemic heart failure. Considering wide availability and high cost-effectiveness, regional myocardial function integrated with perfusion on gated SPECT MPI has great promise to become a clinical tool in the assessment of myocardial viability.

Improving the accuracy of converting dose to medium to dose to water algorithms in small megavoltage photon fields in dose to medium based treatment planning systems.

PURPOSE: To present a formalism to improve the accuracy of converting absorbed dose to medium in medium (Dm) to absorbed dose to water in medium (Dw) in small megavoltage photon fields for different human tissues in Dm-based treatment planning systems (TPS). METHODS: Eight kinds of real human tissues were simulated to convert Dm to Dw. Four kinds of virtual water media were deliberately designed to analyze source of deviations from the conventional Bragg-Gray theory. Mass electronic stopping powers were calculated using the ESTAR code. The phase-space data was generated by the EGSnrc/BEAMnrc Monte Carlo code. The dose deposition was calculated with the EGSnrc/DOSRZnrc code. Electron fluence spectra calculated with EGSnrc/FLURZnrc code were utilized to analyze fluence perturbations and determine fluence intensity (Φw,mint) and fluence spectral shape (Φw,mS) correction factors. RESULTS: Large conversion errors of Dw using Bragg-Gray theory were observed, such as 19.65% ± 9.58% (average value ± standard deviation, type A) for inflated lung (ICRU). Fluence perturbations could be exacerbated by severe charged particle disequilibrium conditions. These deviations were caused by the synergy between tissues' different mean excitation energies and smaller mass densities compared to those of water. Adding Φw,mint and Φw,mS correction factors to modify Bragg-Gray theory could greatly reduce Dw conversion errors, within 1.00% for all tissues studied. CONCLUSIONS: The current clinically used Dw conversion algorithm in commercial Dm-based TPS isn't appropriate for some human tissues in small field dosimetry. Correction factors should be exploited to improve the accuracy.

The economic and environmental benefits analysis for food waste anaerobic treatment: a case study in Beijing.

The disposal of food waste has attracted worldwide attention. Each year, the amount of wasted food accounts for an estimated one third of annual food production globally. This large amount of food waste has caused serious land, water, and air pollution. In the past, most research on food waste was focused solely on food waste disposal processing. Only a few studies analysed the flow of materials in food waste treatment processes. Therefore, this paper focused on the process of food waste anaerobic treatment in Beijing and investigated the treatment. According to a life cycle theory, the food waste treatment process is divided into three processes: "collection and transportation, disposal, and resource utilization." This paper analysed the input and output of food waste treatment in different processes and evaluated the economic and environmental costs and benefits of food waste treatment. The study found that 200 t of food waste anaerobic treatment can obtain benefits 66,888 Chinese yuan, generate electricity energy 43,350 kW⋅h, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions 16,087 kg. Generally, the economic and environmental benefits of the food waste anaerobic treatment project are considerable. However, the economic benefits are mainly from government subsidies. There are many impurities in food waste, which indicates some problems in food waste treatment. Thus, the proposals to strengthen waste classification, optimize the layout of garbage collection and transportation, and accelerate the development of waste treatment plants have been put forward.

Medical service unity: an effective approach for medical care in rural areas in China.

CONTEXT: Medical care in rural China has long suffered because of a concentration of medical resources in major hospitals in cities. The patients in rural areas thus do not have affordable access to quality medical services. To tackle such issues, a tiered medical scheme (TMS) was promoted by the Chinese State Council in 2015. It divides hospitals into three tiers and encourages collaborations among different tiers within a region in order to provide better accessibility to medical care for patients in rural areas. ISSUES: The implementation of the TMS policy has not been successful, because the previous funding model, which allocated funding to each hospital according to the number of patients treated, did not facilitate close collaborations between different hospitals. In this report, the medical service unity (MSU) approach, which has been piloted in Funan county, is reported. The MSU organises the tiered hospitals as a unity in terms of medical capabilities and financial abilities. With the radical reform of financial decentralisation, three flows are thereby enabled: the funding flow binds together the hospitals into a unity, the patient flow shares the load across the providers and eases barriers to access, and the resource flow ensures accessibility and affordability for patients. LESSONS LEARNED: The MSU approach has been shown by the pilot project in Funan to be effective for the realisation of the TMS policy, benefiting hospitals, doctors and patients. The successful experience of the Funan MSU could be introduced to other regions across China and other countries. In particular, future finance reform policies for the health system would largely benefit the health reforms and especially the decentralisation of medical resources to rural areas.

Negative correlation between CSF zinc level and anxiety in male Chinese subjects.

Zinc is crucial for brain development and psychiatric regulation. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) zinc level and anxiety in a group of male Chinese subjects. Results demonstrated that zinc levels had no considerable interindividual variations, ranging from 8.37 to 16.83µm. Correlation analyses revealed that CSF Zinc levels were positively correlated with education years (r=0.225, p=0.024) and negatively correlated with SAS scores (r=-0.287, p=0.004), but not associated with age or BMI. In conclusion, this present study suggests that CSF zinc level is associated with anxiety.

An integrated approach for assessing aquatic ecological carrying capacity: a case study of Wujin District in the Tai Lake Basin, China.

Aquatic ecological carrying capacity is an effective method for analyzing sustainable development in regional water management. In this paper, an integrated approach is employed for assessing the aquatic ecological carrying capacity of Wujin District in the Tai Lake Basin, China. An indicator system is established considering social and economic development as well as ecological resilience perspectives. While calculating the ecological index, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is extracted from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) time-series images, followed by spatial and temporal analysis of vegetation cover. Finally, multi-index assessment of aquatic ecological carrying capacity is carried out for the period 2000 to 2008, including both static and dynamic variables. The results reveal that aquatic ecological carrying capacity presents a slight upward trend in the past decade and the intensity of human activities still exceeded the aquatic ecological carrying capacity in 2008. In terms of human activities, population has decreased, GDP has quadrupled, and fertilizer application and industrial wastewater discharge have declined greatly in the past decade. The indicators representing aquatic ecosystem conditions have the lowest scores, which are primarily attributed to the water eutrophication problem. Yet the terrestrial ecosystem is assessed to be in better condition since topographic backgrounds and landscape diversity are at higher levels. Based on the work carried out, it is suggested that pollutant emission be controlled to improve water quality and agricultural development around Ge Lake (the largest lake in Wujin District) be reduced.